Illinois winner of Mega Millions to be revealed

The final winner of the Mega Millions jackpot will step into the limelight Wednesday to claim a share of the $656 million prize, the Illinois Lottery says.

The winner, from Red Bud, a city of 4,000 in southern Illinois, near St. Louis, will be presented with a check for $218.6 million. That's before taxes -- 25% federal, 5% state.

The winner will be unmasked at 10 a.m. CT (11 a.m. ET) at the Red Bud Village Hall. The winning ticket was bought at the nearby Motomart.

Winning tickets were also sold in Kansas and Maryland.

The Maryland winners turned up to collect their $218.6 million check but chose to keep their faces hidden and be identified only as "The Three Amigos." The Kansas winner is keeping his identity entirely secret.

Illinois generally does not allow anonymity:

To assure other players that prizes are paid to winners, the Lottery makes public the name, home city and amount won. We will not, however, release the addresses or telephone numbers of winners. Multi-million dollar winners must participate in a one-time news conference, but we'll always respect your wishes of privacy as much as possible.